A Japanese animator with a timeless style

He has sometimes been called the Walt Disney of Japan. But while the works of Disney are rarely mentioned in the same breath as those of Shakespeare, C.S. Lewis, and Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, the films of Hayao Miyazaki frequently are.

Mr. Miyazaki, who has directed 12 feature-length animated films and four TV series, is seen as the master in a country with a passion for animation. Indeed, animated films account for about 60 percent of Japanese film production.

Miyazaki's appeal extends far beyond the Japanese culture. He has achieved critical acclaim and garnered devoted fans worldwide. His latest film, "Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi" ("Spirited Away" in English) was lauded in France and Asia earlier this year. It is scheduled to open in the United States Sept. 20.

The film is about a pony-tailed 10-year-old girl who finds herself toiling in a bathhouse frequented by Japanese spirits when her parents are put under a curse and turned into pigs.

In Japan, the movie has been a sensation. During its eight-month run, it has sold more tickets than any other film in Japanese history – $214 million (US) – surpassing "Titanic," the previous top-grossing film there.

Miyazaki's work has gained global popularity for many reasons.

He is a skilled craftsman, and one of the few directors in the world of animation who personally checks every key frame, reworking ones that are not to his satisfaction.

On the storytelling side, he has also succeeded in creating protagonists – often, as in "Spirited Away," young girls – who move and act and think like little girls, and who offer the kind of role models adults are happy to place before children's eyes.

But some say the real magic of Miyazaki's tales lies in the way that they speak to adults, often arousing a sad but sweet sense of nostalgia, a longing for the mysterious, timeless land of Miyazaki's own imagination.

"He speaks to certain late 20th-century and early 21st-century hungers," says Susan Napier, Mitsubishi professor of Japanese studies at the University of Texas in Austin. "He incorporates European and Japanese elements to create his own Miyazaki world."

Miyazaki's movies tend to bridge generations, as do films like "Harry Potter" and "The Lord of the Rings." Japanese viewers say Miyazaki's works offer adventures for children wrapped around plots that stir genuine adult emotion.

"For the children, it draws them in," says Yumi Ogawa, who, earlier this year, waited in line for the film with her two small daughters clad in matching pink coats. "But for us adults, it makes us think of the old Japan and that is very appealing."

"There's something in it for every generation," says Ted Yashima, who, with his wife, Yoko, took their two children to see the film.

And while Mr. Yashima agrees there was something compellingly Japanese about the film, he says he was also moved by elements that struck him as more Chinese.

"I thought it was more Oriental rather than just Japanese," says Mrs. Yashima.

In the United States, Miyazaki's has yet to make a strong showing, leaving some Hollywood executives dubious about the Sept. 20 US debut of "Spirited Away."

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